


Brothers In Arms

by BottleRedRosie



Category: Cal Leandros - Rob Thurman, Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-30 05:17:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20809163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BottleRedRosie/pseuds/BottleRedRosie
Summary: For once, Cal and Niko Leandros aren’t the weirdest kids in school. Crossover with Supernatural.  One shot.  Complete.  Warnings for kiddies in peril.





	Brothers In Arms

**Author's Note:**

> Rating: T  
Words: 5,000  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Language of the Cal Leandros kind, not necessarily Supernatural-friendly, mild violence towards children.  
Summary: For once, Cal and Niko Leandros aren’t the weirdest kids in school. Crossover with Supernatural.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
A/N: It had to happen eventually...

**BROTHERS IN ARMS**

For once we weren’t the weirdest kids in school.

Yeah, sure, we were always gonna be “those weird gypsy boys,” but the day “those weird boys who live in the motel” showed up in class was a special day for me and my brother Niko.

Sam, the youngest of the motel kids, was in Niko’s class, and from what Nik told me—or, rather, what he _ didn’t _ tell me—he was nearly as smart as my brother.

Nik could be kinda stuck up about his huge brain, so when this kid Sam showed up, he was a little bit annoyed. Especially when he stuck his hand up in history class before Niko did and got the question right before my brother even got the chance to show off.

The older brother?

Everyone steered clear of him.

He was sixteen and scary as all hell.

I’d never seen such a protective older brother.

Except for maybe _ my _older brother.

Rumor was the older kid was straight outta a boys’ correctional facility and knew how to kill a guy with a pencil sharpener.

I didn’t know whether that was true, but even Niko, who wasn’t scared of anything, gave Dean Winchester a wide berth.

Of course, that _ wasn’t _ true.

Niko was scared of stuff. He just pretended like he wasn’t.

And the thing he was most scared of just walked into the Seven Eleven while my brother was trying to figure out how to feed us both with the dollar fifty he had in his pocket.

“What the hell are you brats doin’ in here?” our mother slurred, stumbling into a pile of toilet paper as she tried to see straight enough to find the booze aisle.

“Hi Mom!” I greeted her brightly, causing Niko to elbow me in the ribs.

“Cal, what did I tell you about bears and sticks?” he murmured under his breath, moving to stand in front of me while trying to keep a wary distance between himself and Sophia.

“Uh,” I hazarded. “Don't poke ’em?”

Sophia lurched towards us drunkenly. “_What _did you just call me you little shit?” she demanded, snatching a bottle of Jim Beam up off the shelf next to her and making to swing it in my direction.

Niko, predictably, stepped up to take the hit before she could hit me, but took a surprised step back when a hand suddenly grabbed the bottle an inch from his face and twisted it safely out of our mother’s grasp.

“Now I’m sure you don’t wanna be hitting your kid in front of witnesses and a surveillance camera do you, ma’am?” Dean Winchester asked smoothly, glancing up at the camera over Sophia’s shoulder.

She squinted at him.

“Who the fuck are you?” she demanded. She took another lurching step toward Niko, but the older Winchester kid got in between them stubbornly.

“Call me a concerned citizen,” he said, puffing up his chest a little. “A concerned citizen who thinks maybe you should pick on someone your own size.”

He was shorter than our mother, but was still a lot bigger than Niko.

Our mother continued to squint at him for a second, before suddenly spitting out a string of Rom curse words she usually reserved for me or Nik.

Dean Winchester blinked at her. “Did she just curse me?” He glanced off to the side, where his brother was standing on the end of the next aisle with a bag of Funions in his hand.

Sam shrugged. “Not the best Rom curse I ever heard,” he commented placidly. “I’m not sure she got the pronunciation quite right.”

Niko glanced over his shoulder at me, and I shrugged.

Sure, I knew how to curse in Rom, but everything I knew I picked up from Sophia.

Sophia, who currently looked like she was about to tear out Dean Winchester’s eyes with her fingernails.

“Get outta my way, kid,” she snarled.

Dean didn’t move.

“This is family business,” our mother continued, trying to reach around him in order to get at Niko.

Nik took another step back until he was right in front of me.

Dean glared right on back at her. “I think you need to go,” he said softly.

“Not without my kids, not when they’re obviously in need of some discipline,” Sophia returned. “Now get the hell out of my way!” She shoved Dean hard, and he stumbled, enough that she was able to lunge for Niko, grabbing first his wrist and then his hair. “Out,” she snarled. “_Now. _And bring your little monster with you.”

I saw a tiny frown shadow Sam’s face for a second, and Dean glanced over at me, as if it was the first time he’d seen me.

Sophia was dragging my brother out of the store by his hair before I could even figure out what the hell that expression was that just appeared on both Winchester boys’ faces.

I followed close on Niko’s heels, pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to do much if our mother decided to go to town on him right outside the store.

Which she did.

He was already on the floor by the time I got through the doorway, his lip split and a nasty red mark blooming across his cheekbone.

Still, coulda been a whole lot worse if she’d hit him with the bottle of Jim Beam instead of the back of her hand.

“Gimme!” she ordered, holding out her hand to him.

Niko blinked up at her. “Don’t have anything,” he lied.

“That why you were in the store?” Sophia returned. “’Cause you got no money? Saint Niko lowering himself to shoplifting?”

Nik raised himself up onto his elbow indignantly. “_Someone _has to feed us,” he shot back, before Sophia lunged at him, grabbing his wrist and prizing open his closed hand to get at the dollar fifty he’d been clutching so tightly.

“Knew you were holding out on me, you little shit.”

“Leave him alone you psycho nutjob!” I screeched at her, running to position myself between her hand and my brother’s face as she went to take another swing.

She never dared hit me.

Too scared of what the Grendels might do to her.

She pulled up short, fingers curled into a fist, and I felt Nik grab my wrist and pull me away from her, just as she spat in our direction before shoving past the Winchesters and back into the store.

“Where the hell did I see your goddamn whiskey?” I heard her demand of the kid on the cash register, and Niko took the opportunity to pull himself to his feet while our mother was distracted by her love affair with alcohol.

“You need to put some ice on that,” Sam told him quietly, indicating his cheek.

Nik swallowed. “Probably,” he agreed.

I sighed. “You know, you really did oughtta let me take care of the shoplifting,” I told him.

Niko shot me a withering glare. “We don’t steal,” he told me stubbornly, before he deflated a little and added, “Not unless we really have to.”

Dean stepped forward then, I figured to get a better look at what Sophia had done to Nik’s face, but my brother skittered back nervously.

“Whoa, hey!” Dean held his hands up in surrender. “Not gonna hurt you, okay?”

Nik swallowed, glancing at me before nodding slightly.

Dean took another step toward him, and this time he didn’t flinch. “Come on,” he said at length. “We got ice. And we got—” he glanced over at Sam briefly, “—a little food to spare.” When Niko didn’t respond, he added, “I’m pretty sure you don’t wanna be going home with Mommy, right?”

Niko sucked in a breath before shaking his head mutely.

“It’s okay,” Sam added. “We’re only a block away.”

“In the motel, right?” I piped up, following behind as Dean steered my brother out of the parking lot toward the road.

Sam sighed. “How does _ everyone _in this town know where we live?” he asked.

“Your dad’s car’s not exactly stealthy,” I told him. “And this is a small town. Everyone knows everything about everyone.”

“Well we don’t know _ anything_,” Sam complained. “And it’s not fair. We’re always the outsiders.”

Niko glanced at me again, just as Dean led us into the parking lot of the Sundowner Lodge.

“Is your dad here?” Nik asked a little uncertainly.

There were some interesting rumors about Sam and Dean’s dad, too. Like how he murdered their mom and they were on the run from the authorities.

I didn’t believe that though, and neither did Niko.

People running from something didn’t look like the Winchesters.

They looked like us.

Sam glanced over at Dean, and it suddenly occurred to me that maybe me and Niko weren’t the only ones who could communicate with each other without using actual words.

“He’s away right now,” Sam said, a little evasively.

“Working,” Dean added, pulling a key out of his jeans pocket and opening the door to room four.

It looked like any other motel room me and Nik had ever stayed in with Sophia, although there were a couple of army-style duffle bags in the corner and I was pretty sure I could see a wicked-looking knife sticking out from under one of the pillows on the bed.

Dean saw it too, pushing it out of sight deftly before heading over to a tiny fridge in the corner. “You boys want soda?” he asked.

Niko paused as he took in his shabby surroundings. The Winchesters clearly had about as much money as we did, that being none.

“Are you sure you…?” he started to say, clearly trying to be diplomatic like always. “I mean, we don’t want to...if you don’t have…” He trailed off, sticking his hands in his pockets and suddenly finding his sneakers fascinating. The left one had a hole in the toe and I made a mental note to speak to Sophia about that next time she was in a good mood. Probably when Niko hit thirty.

Dean smiled a little hollowly at him. “Niko, right?” he said, to which Nik nodded. “Don’t worry. We’ve been where you are. We can share.”

Niko assented grudgingly with a slight nod, prompting me to ask, “So what does your dad do?”

Sam and Dean shared another loaded look.

“He travels around a lot,” Dean said, deliberately turning away to look at the sodas he was pouring.

“He’s...a salesman,” Sam added, and when I squinted at the knife still kind of sticking out from under the pillow, he amended, “Uh, knives, tools, that kind of thing.”

I nodded, sharing a loaded look with _ my _brother. “Okay.”

“So you’re Cal?” Dean asked, deftly changing the subject.

I nodded again, not offering any more information than I had to, just like Niko had taught me.

“That short for something?” Dean prodded.

“No,” Niko put in, just as I blurted,

“Caliban.”

Yeah, I’d not quite got a handle on the whole not sharing too much thing yet.

Niko frowned at me. I shrugged back at him. I owned my name, even if he didn’t like it.

“That’s...unusual,” Dean glanced again at Sam.

“Shakespeare’s monster,” the younger Winchester supplied, still looking at Dean. “From _ The Tempest_, right?” he added, turning back to me with a bright smile, and indicating we could sit on the bed if we wanted.

We did, but Niko’s back was poker straight, clearly not happy with this line of questioning.

“Our mom’s kind of literary,” he said carefully.

“When she’s not passed out drunk,” I added, causing another frown to be shot in my direction.

Dean handed us sodas, but didn’t offer to sit himself. “She hit you a lot?” he asked, indicating Niko’s cheekbone with a wave of his glass.

Nik shrugged, and Dean nodded. While I didn’t get the feeling their dad knocked them around the way Sophia had a habit of doing to Niko, I did get the feeling they’d been around the block a few times. Seen some shit. And Dean had turned up to class pretty messed up himself a couple of times.

“So where are you from?” Sam asked, again carefully changing the subject.

My turn to be evasive. “Nowhere,” I said.

Sam frowned at me. “You gotta be from somewhere,” he insisted. “We’re from Kansas. Originally. Lawrence. We left when our mom—”

“Died in a house fire,” Dean finished for him.

“Wish that happened to _ our _mom,” I muttered, giving Niko an excuse to slap the back of my head.

I scowled at him and he scowled right on back. 

“That’s not a nice thing to say, Cal,” he told me.

I shrugged. “She’s not a nice person.”

Niko sighed, but didn’t try to argue with me. “I’m not really sure where I was born,” he offered instead, and it wasn’t like him to talk about things like this with strangers. Maybe he was getting the same vibe from the Winchesters I was getting: kindred spirits, I think Niko called it. “And I was only four when Cal came along, so don’t really remember where we lived then, either. Our mom moves around a lot too.”

“So you’re really gypsies?” Sam sounded kind of impressed. “Wow. I thought maybe that was something else the kids in school made up.”

Niko’s turn to shrug. “Greek Rom,” he said. “Vayash clan. Although our mom kinda fell out with them.”

“Our mom kinda fell out with everyone,” I added.

“What about your dad?” Dean asked innocently. “He in the picture?”

If it was possible for Niko to sit up any straighter he did. “Don’t know my dad,” he said. “Not sure my mom does either.”

“You have different dads?” Sam asked.

Niko choked on his soda.

“Mm-hmm,” I took over for him. “Don’t know my dad either.” Another look was exchanged between the Winchesters, and I added, “And the other stuff they say about our mom in town? That’s true.” I didn’t know if the Winchesters had heard the tales about our mom’s whoring—and I may have been eight, but I knew what that word meant—but I figured I may as well get it out there. “She tells fortunes too,” I added. “But that doesn’t exactly pay the rent.”

Niko sighed. “Which is why…” he trailed off with another shrug.

“Hey, we all got baggage,” Dean said, non-judgmentally, handing us both a bag of chips.

Niko sniffed, not looking up. “Thanks for this,” he said quietly, and I didn’t tell the Winchesters my brother hadn’t eaten in a day or two. Always made sure there was food for me, but wasn’t lucky enough to have someone around to do the same for him. He thought I didn’t know, pretended like he ate at school. But I knew.

“We…” Sam began, opening his own chips. “We’ve been through some tough times,” he managed, again glancing at Dean. “There’s—there’s a place in town. Found it when we first got here. A church over on Fifth? They...help...kids like—like—”

“Us?” Niko supplied.

Sam shrugged. “All of us. Food. Clothes if you need them.” He indicated the hole in Nik’s shoe.

Dean took a breath. “And if your mom’s hitting you—” He stopped abruptly at the look on Niko’s face.

“No,” my brother said, skirting the one subject that caused him the most anxiety in life. After the Grendels, obviously. “I can’t—Family Services would—”

Dean nodded, like he got it. And I was pretty sure he did. “Here,” he said, handing an ice pack to my brother. The real deal, not a bag of frozen peas like he usually had to make do with. Niko touched it gingerly to his cheek with a wince, and Dean continued. “We’ve had a few run-ins with CPS,” he admitted darkly. “Do-gooders who don’t like the idea of kids on their own in motel rooms. At least our dad never—” He stopped abruptly, frowning at Sam, who was clearly trying to get his brother to stop talking.

“Beat the living shit out of you?” I supplied.

To which I received another smack to the back of my head.

“Language,” Niko snapped.

I scowled at him. “It’s not like they haven’t heard it before!”

“How do you know that?”

“Look where they live!”

“Cal, they’re right here. We talked about politeness, right?”

“I’m polite!”

“You’re a foul-mouthed brat,” my brother told me, throwing a Funion at my head.

Which I caught in my mouth.

Niko rolled his eyes, then seemed to remember there were other people besides us in the room. “Sorry for my brother,” he said, bowing his head meekly. “He inherited our mother’s manners.”

I threw a Funion back at him, which he caught left-handed.

One day I’d figure out where he got reflexes like that.

“Why did she call Cal your ‘little monster?’” Sam asked suddenly.

To which Niko clammed right on up.

“Nickname,” I filled in for him. “Because of who she named me after.”

Sam nodded, throwing another impenetrable glance in Dean’s direction. He didn’t seem to believe my explanation at all.

“That’s a weird thing to name your kid after,” Dean observed. “A monster.”

Niko stood up suddenly. “I think we should go,” he announced, and that wasn’t at all suspicious was it, big brother?

He caught my arm and took a step towards the door, but suddenly Dean moved to block our path and Niko stopped abruptly.

“Hey, don’t rush off,” Dean said with a smile. And I suddenly understood why all the other kids at school were scared of him. “Didn’t mean to offend you.”

Niko swallowed. “Not offended,” he said with his own fake smile that didn’t come anywhere near his eyes. “It’s just...our mom...you know, if we don’t get back, she’ll be real mad and…” He trailed off with a shrug.

“I think she’s already real mad,” Sam piped up. “Maybe you should stay out of her way for a while?”

I looked up at Nik, and he clearly didn’t know what to do.

Dean hadn’t actually stopped us from leaving, but he didn’t seem inclined to get out of our way either.

Niko took a step back.

Just as the door opened abruptly.

I’d never actually seen the Winchesters’ dad, but figured the big guy with dark hair who suddenly seemed to be filling the whole doorway had to be him.

Dean turned, stepping to one side deftly, as his dad seemed to assess the entire contents of the motel room in one glance.

Which was when he drew the biggest handgun I’d ever seen and pointed it at me.

“Get away from them!” he growled, and I blinked at him dumbly, at first not realizing it was me he was talking to.

“Whoa, hey!” Dean burst out, as both he and Niko simultaneously moved to stand between me and his dad’s gun. “Dad, this isn’t what you—”

“Out of the way, Dean,” his dad snarled.

Sam was on his feet too. “Dad, stop, they’re not what you thought! They’re just _ kids _!”

“Out of the way!” their dad repeated, this time grabbing hold of Dean’s shoulder and shoving him to one side.

“Dad, _ stop _!” Sam yelled, but Dean caught hold of him before he could move in front of me too.

Their dad took a step towards us, and his gun was pointed straight at my head.

Niko shoved me as far behind him as he could and stubbornly straightened his shoulders and set his jaw.

Dean and Sam’s dad swallowed, his determined expression faltering.

“You’ll have to shoot me first,” my brother said.

I could hear the older Winchester’s teeth grinding. “Get out of the way, son,” he said at length. “I know you’re not—” he paused. “Like your brother.”

Niko’s hand was on my shoulder, and I felt his grip tighten instinctively. “I don’t know what you mean,” he lied.

“Do you know who I am?”

Niko blinked. “Their dad?” he offered, inclining his head at the Winchesters.

“John,” their dad said. “John Winchester. You know what I do?”

Niko shook his head.

“Dad—” Dean put in quietly, but John ignored him, his focus completely on Niko.

“I hunt monsters, son,” John said.

Niko blinked at him.

“Monsters like your brother.”

Nik shook his head, taking another step back and pushing me behind him until I was right up against the bed and he was blocking me entirely from the sights of John Winchester and his gun.

“My brother’s not a monster,” he said quietly.

Peeking out from behind Niko’s shoulder, I saw John suck in a tight breath. His expression darkened and his mouth was a tight line of determination.

And right then I realized he didn’t like this any more than Niko did.

“But his father _ is _,” John said, not offering to lower the gun.

Niko took a shallow breath. “That doesn’t make him a monster too,” he argued. “He’s not like—them.”

“You call them Grendels, right?” John said.

Niko frowned. “How do you…? Have you been _ following _ us?”

Sam sighed. “He’s not an executioner,” he said. “He—he wanted to make sure he was right before...before…”

“Before he killed my little brother?” Niko offered. “Have you been spying on us? For him?”

Sam looked distinctly uncomfortable. “We didn’t… I didn’t want to...to…” he faltered, looking away before turning his gaze to his father. “He’s not a monster, Dad. You got it wrong. They’re not—”

“Sam,” John said severely. “His kind could destroy the entire human race! Do you understand? We can’t take that risk!”

“They’re not _ his _ kind!” my brother shot back. “He’s a good person. I’m taking care of it. Taking care of _ him. _ Making sure he doesn’t...he doesn’t become like _ them_.”

I’d never heard Niko say anything like that before, and I wasn’t sure what he meant.

“He’s _ my _ kind,” Niko added, his voice cracking a little bit. “He’s _ my _brother, and he’s not a monster!”

“It’s not what he _ is _ it’s what he _ could _be—” John started to argue.

“You could say that about anyone!” Niko argued right on back, his fingers tightening still further in my shirt. “What if someone said that about one of your boys? About Dean? About _ Sam_?”

John swallowed, and I noticed an odd look flicker between him and his older son.

“What if someone told you _ Sam _was a monster and had to be executed?”

Sam blinked at him and I frowned at my brother’s back, unsure why anyone would think _ Sam _was a monster.

“What would _ you _ do?” Niko pressed on. “Would you kill him? Your own son? Your own flesh and blood?”

John swallowed. “We’re not talking about _ my _flesh and blood here—”

“No, we’re talking about _ mine_,” Niko pointed out stubbornly. “He’s my _ brother_,” he added. 

John glanced away for a second, over at his own boys. Bit his lip. Then turned back to Niko with the gun still raised.

“Get out of the way, son,” he said, grabbing Nik’s shoulder and trying to pull him away from me.

Niko stood his ground. “I won’t let you,” he swore. “I won’t let you take him from me!”

John glanced over at his older son. “Dean?”

Dean looked at me, then at Niko, and hesitated.

_ “Dean.” _

Dean swallowed. “Dad, I don’t think we should—”

“_Now _, Dean.”

John’s tone brooked no argument.

But Sam argued anyway.

“Don’t do it, Dean. They’re just kids. They’re just like us.”

Dean swallowed again.

“What if it was _ me_?” Sam added, following Niko’s line of thinking.

Dean turned back to his dad. “Dad.”

John sighed. “Get the kid out of the way, Dean.”

Dean’s sigh matched his father’s as he made a move towards Niko.

But Nik suddenly had a knife in his hand and I had absolutely no idea where he got it.

“Stay away from us!” he warned, brandishing the blade in front of him in a way that made it pretty obvious he’d never actually held a knife like that before.

And then I realized it was the knife from under the pillow on the bed.

Dean glanced again at his father, who inclined his head slightly.

I’m not entirely sure I saw Dean move, but before I could blink he’d taken the knife out of Niko’s hand and had an arm wrapped around his middle, lifting him bodily and trying to carry him away from me.

I don’t think he was quite prepared for the knee he suddenly found rammed into his groin or Niko’s teeth sinking into his arm as my brother struggled like a wildcat until Dean was forced to drop him.

“Let _ go _of me!” Niko spat, Dean still clinging on to his wrist to prevent him positioning himself back in front of me while his dad lined up his handgun so that it was once again pointing at my head.

John took a breath.

And hesitated.

That was enough time for Niko to sink his teeth into Dean’s hand, causing the older boy to yelp while my brother was suddenly once again between me and the gun.

“Please!” And this time he actually sounded like he was begging. “Please, sir, I swear he’s not a monster. I _ swear._”

“Son, get out of the way,” John repeated, taking a step towards my brother, the gun inches from me and even closer to him.

“_Please_,” Niko repeated, and there was a tremor in his voice.

I’d only ever seen my brother cry a couple of times in my life, but I could tell from his voice he was on the verge now.

“Move. _ Now_.” 

John had a hold of Niko’s wrist and was trying to pull him away from me again, but Nik suddenly grabbed hold of me, pulled me into his side and wouldn’t let go.

“Please,” he said again, and he was hanging on to me as if his life depended on it. As if _ my _life depended on it. “Please don’t take my brother away from me. He’s all I’ve got.”

John swallowed.

“He’s all I’ve got,” Niko repeated. “I swear to you, if it costs me my life I won’t let him become what you think he is. I _ swear. _ On his life. On _ my _ life. But _ please _ don’t take him. Please, sir. Please. He’s my brother. He’s all I’ve got.”

John paused.

“Dad?” Sam murmured from behind him. “Please?”

“He’s right, Dad,” Dean weighed in. “What if you found out _ I _was a monster? Or Sam? He deserves a chance to prove you wrong. They both do.”

“He’s just a kid,” Sam added. “You can’t judge him on what he _ might _do. He could save the world someday.”

“But what if he _ ends _it instead?” John asked, although his tone had softened a little.

“I won’t let that happen,” Niko said, standing up a little straighter, but still hanging on to me for dear life. “I _ swear _.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about, son,” John said thoughtfully, gazing at me for a long second before finally letting go of Niko’s wrist and lowering his gun.

Niko gulped in a breath before wrapping both arms around me for a second, resting his chin on the top of my head.

“Ew,” I murmured. “Girly.”

“Don’t care,” Niko murmured back, hanging onto me a little while longer before finally loosening his hold.

But he didn’t let go of me.

We stood unmoving for the next few seconds, all five of us, and it was as if none of us knew what to do next.

John moved first.

He put the safety back on the gun and tucked it into his waistband.

And then he stood looking at us.

“What—what happens now?” Niko finally stammered.

“I guess that’s up to you, isn’t it, son?”

Niko blinked up at him.

“I need you to remember this, Niko,” John said sternly, putting a large hand on my brother’s shoulder. “I need you to remember the promise you made today.”

Niko nodded firmly. “I won’t forget. And I meant it.” He sighed. “I don’t even know who my dad is,” he continued. “But Cal knows who his is. And he deals with it. Better than I ever could. Sir, he’s the bravest person I know and he won’t let either of us down, I know it.” He glanced down at me. “I know it.”

John nodded wordlessly, before reaching out and touching Nik’s chin. “Your mom do that?” he asked, indicating the bruise darkening across his cheekbone.

Niko shrugged.

“She’s a real piece of work, Dad,” Dean said.

“Maybe I should take you boys home,” John said. “Give her some friendly ‘advice.’”

Niko shook his head. “It’ll just make her worse,” he said. He glanced at me again. “We should go.”

John nodded slightly. “Hey, we keep your secret, you keep ours, right?” he said, catching Niko’s arm as he made for the door.

Niko blinked up at him.

“Monster hunters aren’t exactly the kind of neighbors people look for in a small town like this,” John clarified.

Niko nodded. “We won’t tell anyone. And—and Cal?”

“We won’t tell anyone either,” Sam promised.

Niko nodded. “See you in class tomorrow?” he asked.

“Sure,” Sam replied.

But Niko didn’t see Sam in class the next day because Sophia was waiting for us with our bags packed when we got home.

Apparently the kid in the convenience store had called the cops on her after seeing her knocking Niko around, and while I was pretty sure she didn’t give a shit if my brother ended up in a group home, she didn’t want the same happening to me. Just in case the Grendels took it personally.

So we hauled ass, my twelve-year-old brother driving because our mother was too drunk to see straight, and although he could barely see over the dash, I was pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who saw the big black Chevy Impala also hauling ass out of town only a couple of cars in front of us.

Seemed like the Winchesters weren’t taking any chances either.

**The End**

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  



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